We wanted to let all of our amazing listeners and subscribers know that we are going to be changing the name of this podcast. Starting in April, we will be called Monetize the Mic!

Our focus truly is on the strategies behind monetizing your visibility on podcasts. We’ve had this show since 2014. We have been called Rhodes to Success, Interview Connections, and Rock the Podcast. We make those shifts because our business has evolved. Right now, we are focusing so much on monetizing your visibility, not just getting booked and being a great guest.

We can’t wait for all the episodes ahead under our brand new name Monetize the Mic and we are so thankful for all of our loyal listeners and supporters!

Jess and Margy are the co-owners of Interview Connections, the first and leading podcast booking agency. This is the podcast where you will learn all about podcast guesting and how to leverage podcast interviews to grow your brand awareness.

On today’s episode of Rock the Podcast, Margy talked with Interview Connections client, Stacy Bahrenfuss!

Stacy is the owner of a 7-figure real estate company, Founder of The Truth Teachers™ and Ultimate Break-through Accelerator™. Her customized results-oriented approach to personal development is reflective in her unmatched intuitive 1:1 consulting, intimate group coaching, and exclusive certification program. 

She began her entrepreneurial journey in the real estate industry at the early age of 19, sustained through the housing crisis of 2007-2010, and continued to build the business to be a 7-figure operation and one of the top real estate teams in the state of Idaho. In 2018 she personally funded and sold a development project consisting of 11 upper-tier luxury homes while still operating her real estate team. Her husband runs the operations of the real estate team today, while Stacy resides in an Advisory role. 

Now, along with her certified consultants known as The Truth Teachers™ Stacy is on a mission to smash the shackles of suffering by shining a light on the truth so that her clients can achieve everything they want. Her programs serve as a catalyst for deep inner transformation to create lasting whole life success, and how to do it all from a limitless, beautiful inner state.

One day while Margy and Stacy were chatting, Margy helped Stacy realize that she went from helping people find their homes, to helping women find their internal homes. Stacy is also kind of a  utility company, helping them turn on all their powers! She is driven to help people on her team connect to their power.

Stacy likens this to identifying leaks in the boat and then sealing those leaks. All of the power that is being drained in the boat can be redirected to build 8+ figure businesses! Since June, that is where Stacy has really been refocusing her work.

While Margy was looking to buy a house, Stacy was able to offer Margy an incredible mindset shift that changed everything. In her house-shopping experience, Margy found it to be incredibly emotionally draining. Margy had made an offer on a house that she felt very confident about, and the offer was rejected.

It was really a crushing blow for Margy, who had already been imagining the house as her own. Soon after, Margy found another house and put in another offer. She was talking to Stacy about it and said, “I hope this offer is good enough to win.”

Stacy then said to Margy, “What about focusing on the highest and best good for everyone?”

Stacy’s piece of wisdom was, what if you shifted that perspective of winning to “My offer is good enough.” What if you consider that it be for the best for everyone involved. Focus on that win for you, win for the seller, and win for the collective.

Margy was having these constrictive and isolating feelings associated with a winning and losing mentality. Her mindset went from “I don’t want to make my offer too high” to “I want the sellers to be psyched about this offer too. I want the realtors to be psyched about this commission. I want to be so happy.” That shift to considering everyone involved not only made Margy feel a lot better, but her offer was also accepted.

Once you operate in the space of the highest and best good of everyone involved, you start to play on a different level completely. A ripple effect is created. That constricting piece, that separation can hold us back subconsciously. Once you move away from constriction and fear, you’ll move to possibility, abundance, and expansion.

Margy also brings up that mindset plays a huge role in the success that a guest has on a podcast in terms of their ROI. Stacy agrees: you’re either in contribution, or you’re in fear and in lack. She explains that you have a choice and you can make it in the moment. The choice is tied into two internal states that we all have access to, fear and love. A beautiful state or a suffering state.

For podcast guests, Stacy recommends making that shift and setting that intention for who you want to be. Set the intention for how you want to show up and the internal energy that you want to bring to the table. That mindset shift can be transforming for both the host and the audience!

You can connect with Stacy at thetruthteachers.com!

On today’s episode of Rock the Podcast, Jess and Margy talk about top-line revenue and profit!

When Margy came on as co-owner in 2018, her number one goal was to grow the top line revenue of Interview Connections to 7 figures. Even though Margy didn’t quite understand profit margins yet, she knew that she wanted the revenue to reach that 7 figure goal. And it worked! In 2019, Interview Connections hit 7 figures, and the company is currently scaling to 8 figures. 

It wasn’t until recently that Jess and Margy shifted their focus to healthy profit, as well as top-line revenue growth. The first step that they took was to address their pricing structure. When Jess started Interview Connections in 2013, there was no other podcast booking agency on the planet! This meant that Jess had nowhere to look when she created the pricing structure.

Way back then, Jess had implemented a month-to-month pricing package for clients and raised prices every few years. In 2017, Jess and Margy had a coaching day with Ali Brown, and Ali helped them completely restructure their pricing packages. Not only did Jess and Margy restructure so that the team and the business were being compensated fairly, but they also ensured that the clients were getting everything they needed from the package!

Interview Connections prices their services based on the value they are providing. The entire package, which includes so much more than guaranteed podcast bookings, offers clients an opportunity for a massive ROI. When we price our services, we do not compare to what other podcast bookers are charging, because we are offering so much more than just podcast bookings!

As an entrepreneur, it’s so important to ask yourself, “What is the value I’m providing?”

It’s crucial to make sure that you are charging what you’re worth. As buyers, we often assume the more expensive service is the better one! When you charge what you’re worth, and when you have a high ticket offer, you are perceived to be of higher value. But of course, you need to back that up with your value and your service delivery!

Don’t inflate your price to where it would not be a good investment for a business owner. But we find that most people price their services too low. First, you need to look at your service and look at how you can increase your client’s ROI. Once you can improve their experience with your service, you can justify higher prices!

The next part of growing your top-line revenue is growing your sales infrastructure.

If there is only one person in your organization who can close sales, especially if you’re selling high ticket services, you’re hitting a huge ceiling to your top-line revenue growth. Growing a sales team is critical because allows you to multiply your sales results. At Interview Connections, we have a strong sales team engine that is propelling us forward. As an entrepreneur, you should be out there on podcasts working on your visibility to obtain leads, and then having a team come in and work on actually closing those leads!

Margy goes on 4-6 interviews a month, creating content, developing her thought leadership, and building up brand and company! From this, qualified leads come in and meet with our sales team. You need to build your visibility for the leads to find you. We needed more salespeople to handle the leads we were getting from podcast guesting! 

The next important step in growing top-line revenue is tracking your progress. 

It’s imperative to set goals and to look at what you’ve accomplished so far! Margy has a spreadsheet that is incredibly near and dear to her heart. That spreadsheet tracks revenue, expenses, and profit for each month. Jess and Margy find this tracking to be so helpful for planning, setting goals, and celebrating successes.

When Jess and Margy have felt disappointed that they didn’t hit a goal, they can look back to their May 2017 sales of 30k and compare that to May 2020 with 300k sales! It really hits you in the face with everything that you’ve already accomplished.

The work you did 6 months ago is why you are here today! What you’re doing right now is going to determine where you are 6 months from now.  If you are not getting interviewed on podcasts right now, you cannot expect growth in your visibility 6 months from now! Start now because this long-term strategy really does take time to grow. 

What you do right now is going to determine what your spreadsheets look like a few months down the road.

Jess and Margy find that they themselves, along with many entrepreneurs, are generally impatient. This can be a difficult concept to master, when you allow yourself to be patient and track your results, you’ll be able to see the fruits of your labor.

Turning the focus to profit, Jess and Margy started tracking profit in 2017. In Margy’s spreadsheet, they could see every year lined up with income expenses and profit. You should be focusing on profit from Day 1, but it becomes even more important as you grow.

Jess and Margy didn’t really focus on profit for a while but then their expenses started to catch up with them. As they started tracking expenses and revenue, they found they could drive growth and profit in a way that is strategic and sustainable!

Another one of Margy’s obsessions is org charts.

Org charts are incredibly important for your revenue and profit growth because they help you plan as you grow for the team that you will need! You can look at what that structure needs to be and what the different teams and departments will look like. 

Jess and Margy created an org chart so they could look at what payroll expenses would be at 10 million top-line revenue. This helped them create the growth trajectory of various roles, teams, and departments in the company. 

The clarity that org charts bring can help you lead your team and be intentional with your profitability. 

The bottom line is to be mindful of what you’re investing in for your business. You should separate the “nice to haves” and the critical drivers. Things that really drive profitability like visibility, coaching are smart investments. Avoid things that aren’t actually going to move you forward and they’re going to cost you more!

On today’s episode of Rock the Podcast, Jess had the opportunity to speak with Interview Connections client Nancy Murphy! Nancy is the founder and president of CSR Communications and creator of Intrapreneurs Influence Lab. Her passion is helping leaders of change within established organizations (intrapreneurs) influence and persuade others so that they can realize their vision for change faster, with less frustration and resistance. 

From challenging stereotypes of girls in her Catholic school more than 40 years ago, to her first job after college convincing nonprofits to engage youth volunteers or her role as board chair of a global nonprofit transforming the way we do international development, Nancy has experienced the challenges of leading big change within established organizations. And she’s willing to share all the mistakes she made – and all the solutions she discovered – so that you don’t have to learn them the hard way!

First, Jess asks Nancy what led her to a business where she helps companies with intrapreneurs?

Very early in Nancy’s life, she realized she was a status quo challenger by always challenging perceptions. She found herself often being hired to lead change, or once she was hired she would always find a way to start leading change. 

Once Nancy started working in consulting, she found that her clients were often also people who were leading change in organizations. Nancy realized that she had lessons and techniques to share, so she then started CSR Communications! 

Jess then wants to know, what is at the root of people’s fear of change? Why do people resist change?

Nancy’s mantra is “Leaders don’t respond to lizard brain with lizard brain.” Well, what does “lizard brain” mean!? Our brains are very good at pattern recognition and this helps protect us. Lizard brain is the ancient part of our brain that is designed to protect us. It’s the part that triggers the fight, flight, or freeze response. Particularly in times of change, that part of our brain goes into overdrive, and our brain is trying to protect us from that change.

As leaders, we can’t get into letting our lizard brains take over in response to other people’s lizard brains! 

She does, however, urge leaders to not always view resistance as a bad thing. Resistance can make us stronger, it can illuminate our blind spots, and it can make us better.

We don’t always want to see resistance as a negative. We want to get curious about it and see what’s going on underneath it. We want to find out what we can do to use that resistance in a way that improves and advances the change!

Nancy tells her clients that they need to become credible leaders. The first step in doing this is looking in the mirror. Jess loves this because the mirror concept is something that she and Margy talk about all the time. Your team is a direct reflection of your leadership! 

Nancy agrees and explains that the only thing we can control is ourselves. We can, however, influence others. Everything really starts with what can we do to become credible! She also recommends being open and being curious as a leader. It’s crucial to have empathy and to appreciate when someone is freaking out or feeling anxious about change.

Once we know something we can’t un-know it. Nancy knows that it’s really hard to explain something you already know to someone who is hearing it for the first time. She recommends that leaders ask themselves, “what curse of knowledge do we have for our vision of change? What are those gaps we forget to fill in that really make all the difference?”

Jess and Nancy both stress the importance of patience. Nancy discusses the power of pause. As a leader, if you’re about to train someone on something new, ask yourself, “How can I pause before I go into this training or teaching scenario? How can I actually put myself in a scenario when I was learning something new? What did that feel like and how can I imagine what other person can be feeling on the opposite side of my teaching or training?”

Nancy also asks her clients to think of themselves as campaigners. People on the campaign trail give the same speech over and over, but they still have to make it dynamic and interesting every day. When people ask questions, the campaigners have to act as if that is the first time they’ve heard that question. 

When people challenge them, the campaigner has to act as if this is the first time they’ve heard an opposite point of view. Nancy asks her clients, “How can we adopt the campaigner mindset?:

Jess then asks Nancy if she has any tips for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

She brings up a key point that she uses in her consulting frequently, and that is the concept of artifacts. If an organization has been around for a long time, what are all those little things left behind that show people what that organization really values? What really matters in terms of how things get done in that organization?

When we go through change, look across all aspects of the organization and ask, “What do those artifacts convey? Are they aligned with the change that we’re leading?” If they don’t, you’ll have to address those head-on and challenge what they mean for your organization. That will be imperative to being an effective leader of change wherever you are!

You can connect with Nancy at csrcommunications.com and be sure to head over to the freebies tab for loads of free resources, including a Meeting Makeover Kit, a Quarterly Momentum Maker Worksheet and more! 

On today’s episode of Rock the Podcast, Jess and Margy dispel the myth of the visionary entrepreneur.

There is a really prevalent idea that all founders of companies and all entrepreneurs are huge visionaries. Not only is this a stereotype, but it’s also a glamorization of being a visionary entrepreneur. Not every entrepreneur is a true visionary, nor do they need to be in order to become a successful entrepreneur!

When Jess started Interview Connections, it wasn’t really her idea. She had started working as a VA for her dad, Jim Palmer, a business coach. As his VA, her dad had started asking Jess to book him on podcasts. Soon after, Jess decided that she wanted to be a business owner. Her dad coached her and helped Jess see that she could create a podcast booking company.

Even though it wasn’t her idea, it was Jess’s implementation that made Interview Connections possible.

To be successful as an entrepreneur, there is no one thing that you need to have. You can bring on team members or partners that help balance what you’re missing. A lot of founders really embody incredible implementation. Even though Jess didn’t have a grand vision, she took massive action and that is what made everything happen!

So many people out there are not taking action because they’re overthinking and they’re not getting on the court. These entrepreneurs are paralyzing themselves in their minds. It’s important to understand that when you are starting your business, it’s 10% visioning, and 90% implementing.

It’s crucial to build momentum in the beginning. Once you are a little more established, then you can move on to evolving and developing strategy. That’s where Jess sees a lot of people get stopped. They’re so focused on being the visionary that they don’t implement.

Jess and Margy came to decide where their strengths really wore only a few months ago. Margy has brilliant ideas and visions, and Jess rolls up her sleeves and implements. Jess is a “doer” or an implementer, and Margy is a visionary. Both of these are equally important in a successful business.

Everyone can have a great idea, but the real success lies in implementing it. Jess and Margy see this a lot in entrepreneurs that have a gorgeous website but no clients. You can have amazingly curated social media, you can have a great high-tech website, and you can have a great idea but if you’re not picking up that phone and dialing for dollars, that stuff is useless!

Jess and Margy don’t recommend that you invest a bunch of money in your website and other shiny objects like that, because that is not the driver in the beginning stages of your business. You need to get clients! And you do have to make mistakes. You won’t know what makes a good sales call until you pick up the phone!

Jess and Margy hope that they can inspire you to be brave. If you truly want to build something you have to have the faith and the courage to start sprinting and going for it. 

It wasn’t until recently that Jess and Margy had a conversation about their titles and what they should mean. After discussing what each of them really does in the business and where their strengths lie, Jess took the title of President because she is really the implementer. Margy took the title of CEO because she has the bigger vision.

It’s so imperative to know what your strength is, know where you belong, and know what your lane is. Once you know this, you can really thrive and grow in your strengths as opposed to getting better at something that you’re not really great at.

Margy observes that it really does take true leadership to put your ego aside and stay true to what your strengths are! At Interview Connections, it’s so important to stay in the lane that lights you up. While Jess is focused on the process in the business, Margy is focused on ahead of the process and that is where they both thrive!

Jess and Margy both recommend that if you’re an entrepreneur, you should ask yourself: Am I an implementer or am I a visionary? Where do I really thrive? Where do I need help? Who can help balance out what I lack? Plant the seed by asking these questions to find out if you are a visionary or implementer!

If you don’t have 100% clarity on what you should be doing, don’t worry yet. You’ll figure it out on the journey! As we mentioned before, Jess and Margy only got full clarity on their visionary and implementer roles this year. 

We are running a Podcast Guesting Masterclass from March 15th - 19th (with bonus sessions until March 23rd)! If you need to take action on your visibility and build your authority with podcast guesting, you need to attend our free Masterclass! Head to interviewconnections.com/livemasterclass to register!

Jess and Margy are the co-owners of Interview Connections, the first and leading podcast booking agency. This is the podcast where you will learn all about podcast guesting and how to leverage podcast interviews to grow your brand awareness. On today’s episode of Rock the Podcast, Jess and Margy talk about their partnership origin story!

Jess started Interview Connections in 2013, but it wasn’t until Margy came into the picture that the current iteration of the company was created. Margy came on board as co-owner in 2018, but she had a bumpy road to get there! Margy loves telling her story because she wants listeners to reassured that even if it doesn’t seem like things are going the right way - keep going! 

Margy graduated college with dual degrees in art and Latin, but she felt like she didn’t know where to go with her degrees. She ended up finding a job on Craigslist, in a door-to-door fundraising company. Jess was the canvas director for that company, and interviewed and hired Margy herself!

An opportunity arose for Margy to travel to Austin to help open a new office for the company. When it was time for Margy to return, she called Jess and said “Sorry, but I’m staying here in Austin!” Margy was at a place where she didn’t know what she wanted to do and was following her impulses. 

After living in Austin for a little while, Margy traveled to Taiwan and lived there for two years working as an English teacher. She loved traveling, but she never felt like she could find her calling. While living in Taiwan, Margy received the life-changing news that her father had died by suicide. 

Among the many other things that come up during a close family member’s death, Margy had to frantically find a new home for her dad’s cat, Kitten. She had posted on Facebook to see if anyone could foster the cat, and even though Jess and Margy had mostly lost touch over the years, Jess commented on the post and volunteered to foster Kitten. 

Kitten was the catalyst to bring Jess and Margy back together again. About a year later, Jess started working from home as a VA. Soon after that, she created her first business, Interview Connections. After a few years, Jess began hiring 1099 contractors for Interview Connections, and Margy was at the top of her mind for people to hire.

Margy started working at Interview Connections as a booking agent contractor. She started to become obsessed with entrepreneurship and business, even though she had absolutely no background in that whatsoever. The more podcast episodes she listened to, and the more she got to know and understand her clients, the more Margy felt drawn to the world of entrepreneurship.

Unfortunately, Margy began to deal with some more trauma in her personal life. She had a bad breakup that forced her to pack up all of her stuff and move from Colorado back to her mom’s house in Rhode Island. She really felt like she had hit rock bottom.

What Margy didn’t know yet, was that moving back to Rhode Island was the first step in her journey to becoming CEO of Interview Connections.

Jess had decided to switch from 1099 contractors to W-2 employees, and she asked Margy to be her first-ever employee. At the time, Margy did not want to relinquish the freedom she had as a 1099 contractor. She was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, and Margy felt like becoming an employee was a step backward. However, she accepted the offer anyway.

There were so many moments in Margy’s journey that seemed like nothing was going to plan. Even though she felt like everything was going wrong, she was actually on the right path.

Jess was Margy’s boss, but it truly started to feel like a partnership. They cried together, they celebrated together, and they rose to the challenges of a new business together. By the end of 2017, Jess and Margy felt like they were starting to get the hang of things.

In 2018, Jess was starting to feel really burnt out. The weight of running the business alone was beginning to weigh on her. She knew that Margy should be her business partner. They began to discuss the options available for Margy to become an owner in the business.

Margy knew that she wanted to have 50% equity in the business. She wanted to feel like she had just as much of a stake in the success and failure as Jess did. Jess initially offered less than 50% equity, and Margy was fully authentic in her decision to graciously not accept that. Margy was firm that she wanted equal risk and equal reward.

Jess trusted her intuition and her gut. She offered Margy 50% equity in the company and they became equal co-owners. It has been such an incredible journey for Margy to start as a 1099 contractor and end up as the CEO. There is so much possibility when it comes to collaboration, and the partnership of Jess and Margy is one of the reasons they were able to grow the company to multiple seven figures!  

Jess and Margy are the co-owners of Interview Connections, the first and leading podcast booking agency. This is the podcast where you will learn all about podcast guesting and how to leverage podcast interviews to grow your brand awareness.

On today’s episode of Rock the Podcast, Jess (virtually!) sits down with Precious L. Williams, also affectionately known as the #KillerPitchMaster!

Precious can help you slay all competition with her “killer” elevator pitches, media pitches, and investor pitches! Precious is a world-class master communicator who works with successful entrepreneurs and speakers and helps them take their professional pitching and speaking skills to the next level. 

With over 25 years of experience in creating unique speaking and public speaking techniques, Williams is also known for her innovative training programs and services to her clients and sales teams at Fortune 100 companies. These companies include Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and eBay!

As a 13-time national business elevator pitch champion, Williams has been on top television shows and publications for her pitching, branding, and professional speaking skills. She was featured on Season 8 of ABC’s Shark Tank, Forbes Magazine, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, the movie, LEAP, as well as several others around the world.  

In 2019, Precious became a best-selling author of the #1 business book, Bad Bitches with Power Pitches: For Women Entrepreneurs and Speakers Only, and has been featured on time square billboards, top podcasts, and stages around the world!

The philosophy of her “killer” pitch is evident in the strategic and personalized creative communications and presentation solutions Williams puts forth. As a serial entrepreneur, international professional speaker, and corporate trainer, Williams is equipped to bring life, authenticity, strategy, and boldness to all your oral and written communication needs!

Jess wants to know, why does Precious love pitching so much?

Even though pitching scares most people, Precious, who has been a professional speaker since age 16, doesn’t feel any nerves during her killer pitches. For Precious, pitches present endless possibilities of where they can take you. When you think about it, you’re pitching every day. Every time you attempt to get someone to be interested in you, or your ideas, you’re pitching yourself!

Precious has had so many different opportunities because of pitches! She has been on Shark Tank, she has worked in corporate, she has been offered numerous speaking engagements, she has been in movies, and has been featured in massive publications like CNN, Forbes, and Wall Street Journal!

Not only has Precious been able to seize these opportunities for herself, but she is also now working to help her clients achieve these results as well! 

Jess then asks Precious, what are the elements of a successful pitch?

First, Precious recommends that you get clear on the basics. Ask yourself, “Who am I? Who do I serve? What is my secret sauce? What do I do better than anyone else?” Once you know the basics, continue asking yourself questions like “Why should someone hire me? Why should they consider me? What stands out about me from everyone else?” Precious also explains that in order to have a killer pitch, you must have a killer call to action. 

Precious then emphasizes just how crucial storytelling is to your killer pitch. She explains that you have to tell a compelling story. You absolutely have to be a master storyteller. For your pitch to be killer, you have to wrap everything up in a great story that is emotionally compelling to others.

As a Black woman, Precious has had to face incredible obstacles in the entrepreneurial world. Precious asks, how do you win a no-win situation? You have to re-write the rules. She explains, once you change your language, you change the game. The question is: how do you do it in a bold and unexpected way?

An example of one of Precious’s most exciting opening pitches is: “Ladies, raise your hands if you want to be a bad bitch with a power pitch!”

That pitch not only grabs your attention, but it is 100% authentic to Precious as a person. You don’t have to have Precious’s personality to create a killer pitch. The key is to embody your authentic self in your pitch and have it come across in a bold and attention-grabbing way!

Since telling a story is so imperative to pitching success, Jess then asks Precious, what are her top tips for storytelling?

Precious explains that you have to set a scene in the audience’s mind of where you really want them to go. As an example, Precious discusses her killer pitch for Curvy Girl Lingerie on Shark Tank! She sets up the story to take place on Valentine’s Day. Even if you don’t have a boo, you have an emotional connection to Valentine’s Day in some way, so you are immediately drawn in.

Precious asks, “What is Valentine’s Day to a woman who is not seen or heard? You’re a big girl in the city, trying to find lingerie for Valentine’s Day, and no retailer has what you want in your size.” Precious explains that there are 14 million women size 14 and up, and they all want cute underwear!

In this killer pitch, she is illustrating that there is an ignored population. Precious is demanding that this population of women matter and they want to buy! It is both a sizeable and underserved population of buyers. She explains that your niches can make you riches.

When you’re putting together your killer pitch, you have to show why the population that you’re serving needs you - even if they don’t know it yet. Did we know we needed the iPhone before we got it? Of course not!

Another tip Precious offers is to start off your killer pitch with a question, statistic, or quote that is bold and unexpected! We highly recommend that you consider Precious’s advice, because after the first 6 months of Curvy Girl Lingerie, Precious had already crossed the 6 figure mark!

You can take Precious’s free killer pitch quiz at pitchingforprofit.com!

You can connect with Precious on her website, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, and Instagram!